Polestar Reaches Production Milestone, Still Far Behind Tesla

Volvo-owned Polestar has been gaining production steam in recent months, with the company even reaching an important milestone. Still, it’s proving tougher to catch up with Tesla’s massive production efforts than some thought, and competition from other companies like BYD have only made it harder.

Above: A Tesla logo (Image: Casey Murphy / EVANNEX).

Polestar recently celebrated its 150,000th battery-electric vehicle produced, with the company delivering roughly 27,900 units in the first half of 2023, according to Barron’s. By comparison, Tesla sold about 889,000 vehicles through June, representing an increase of about 57 percent from last year. The figure amounts to more than the combined sales of Polestar, Rivian, Lucid, FIsker, General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Nio, Li Auto and Xpeng (834,000).

Along with dominant market share leader Tesla, China’s BYD has been pushing EVs out faster than ever before, delivering around 617,000 BEVs for a 90-percent increase over 2022. The company is effectively the second-largest BEV producer in the world, behind Tesla. Companies like Polestar have a long way to go before even coming close to these numbers. Still, as Tesla followers know, production ramp-up takes time.

The Polestar 2 has started deliveries, featuring a bigger battery pack offering up to 320 miles of range.

“The upgraded Polestar 2 is the best version to date. With improved software, better quality, longer range, and faster charging, it is the basis from which we continue to grow our business,” wrote CEO Thomas Ingenlath in a press release.

However, the company’s stock hasn’t exactly followed suit with its new vehicle and its rollout — and once again, this is especially true when compared to Tesla’s stock. Polestar shares are down 30.32 percent year-to-date at the time of writing, jumping 2.92 percent during Wednesday trading and trading at $3.695 (+$0.105).

Although Tesla stock hit a rough patch over the past month or so, the company is seemingly bouncing back with a few consecutive wins. Additionally, Tesla shares are still up 92.03 percent year-to-date, with a share price of $236.47 (+$3.28) up 1.41 percent at the time of writing during Wednesday trading hours. Nasdaq and the S&P 500 index were up 1.55 percent and 1.18 percent, respectively.

Other startup EV stocks have also suffered over the last 12 months, with Rivian down 38 percent, Lucid off 62 percent, and Fisker dropping 34 percent. Polestar has fallen 57 percent in the same period. Tesla shares are still off by about 20 percent in the same time period. Some point to high interest rates as the culprit, and many EV start-ups have yet to generate free cash flow just yet.

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